Incidents of abuse and discrimination were hidden at a care home, where a toxic leadership base saw managers reprimanding staff for trying to keep service users safe, a report has revealed.

St Martins care home in Whitstable has been placed into special measures by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) after a surprise inspection revealed serious concerns over the safety and leadership of the site.

Inspectors visited the home – which provides care to up to 30 elderly people, some of whom are living with dementia – on June 19 this year, after receiving concerns over the management of the service.

When there, they uncovered a number of shocking issues that saw patients left at risk of malnutrition or abuse.

On several occasions, the management had not let the local safeguarding authority know about incidents of alleged abuse, instead seeking to “protect each other and [the service].”

Furthermore, members of staff felt that they could not raise issues over a number of members of the team – six of whom were either friends or relatives of the registered manager.

One staff member told inspectors: “There is so much stirring. There is no structure, staff tell tales and the managers stomp around. The registered manager and their family all stick together.”

An inspector added in the report: “We observed some of this behaviour during our inspection.

“A member of staff described a member of the management team as ‘a bit harsh’ and described two occasions when they had been reprimanded for trying to keep people safe.”

Inspectors also found that there was no system in place to protect users from abuse and discrimination, with the registered manager failing to identify incidents which met the threshold to be reported to the local safeguarding authority.

There were also incidents where families of residents were not informed when there was an incident involving their relative.

“This placed people at risk as concerns were not being investigated and action was not taken to reduce the risk to people,” the report added.

The inspection also revealed a significant number of issues around staffing levels and training.

At points, these issues meant lengthy delays to breakfast due to staff taking longer to get residents out of bed.

As a result, breakfast and lunch were closer together, risking a number of users not eating lunch due to still being full, and facing a long wait between breakfast and dinner – something that inspectors argued placed them at risk of malnutrition.

Overall, the safety and leadership of the service were both downgraded from ‘good’ to ‘inadequate’, while the effectiveness was listed as ‘requires improvement’.

Neil Cox, CQC deputy director of operations in the south, described the “closed culture” at the home – and subsequent “poor service” – as “concerning”.

“This closed culture meant leaders were protecting each other and St Martins, rather than the people who called it home,” he added.

“We found incidents of alleged abuse hadn’t been reported to the local safeguarding authority, and staff told us they had been reprimanded by management for acting to keep people safe.

“Relatives told of times they hadn’t been informed that their loved ones had been in an incident.

“Staff told us they felt that there was a toxic unprofessional culture in part because some of the management team were related, so they didn’t feel confident raising concerns.

“This was because concerns involving staff who were related had been raised previously, and action hadn’t been taken.

“People’s mealtimes weren’t well organised, with delays to breakfast creating only a short gap until lunchtime.

“This put people at risk of malnutrition as they may not have eaten due to still being full from breakfast, and then a long gap between their evening meal and breakfast. When meals were served, we also saw people who needed it, weren’t supported to eat.

“We have taken enforcement action to ensure the safe care and treatment of people in the service.

“In the meantime, we will continue to monitor the service closely to ensure significant and urgent improvements are made. If we aren’t assured people are receiving safe care, we will not hesitate to take further enforcement action so people receive the high standard of care they deserve.”

A spokesperson for H U Investments, which runs St Martins, said: “H U Investments Ltd has always and will always put the safety and care of its residents first and foremost.

“Unfortunately, this approach was not shared by a small group of key staff within the home, who allowed both the care and indeed safety to fall to unacceptable levels. This created a toxic culture, with numerous issues in the Home intentionally withheld from the main board Management of the business.

“When these issues were uncovered, the Management acted swiftly in identifying the shortfalls, immediately recruiting a new Nominated Individual in March 2023. Whilst working through these shortfalls, the CQC received a number of complaints from the disgruntled members of staff who were under investigation, in turn triggering an inspection.

“A new Management Team are now in place and are working closely with CQC and the Local Authorities to swiftly return the Home to providing the first-class care HU investments strive for.”